May 24, 2003
Gainesville, Fla. – The careers of two UK seniors came to a close on Saturday when ninth-ranked All-Americans Amy Trefethen and Sarah Witten were defeated, 6-1, 6-2, by No. 4 Raquel Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano of California in the finals of the NCAA Women’s Doubles Championships at Florida’s Ring Tennis Complex.
“To reach this level of tennis is awesome,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “Give Cal a lot of credit, they were a better team today.
“Sarah and Amy played at a very high level of tennis over the last several days and I am very proud of what they have accomplished, not only today but over their entire careers.”
Witten and Trefethen made a tremendous run, defeating top-ranked Erin Burdette and Lauren Barnikow of Stanford, on their way to being the first players in UK women’s tennis history to make the finals of an NCAA Championship. Since being paired together in February, the duo has been on a tare, posting a 19-5 record, while reaching as high as No. 7 in the national doubles rankings.
“We first want to congratulate California,” Witten said. “They played a great match. We are disappointed we did nott win, but we also are very proud of our accomplishment.”
“Sarah and I put in a lot of hard work to get here,” Trefethen added. “Yes we are disappointed we did not win, but just getting this far is so rewarding. I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
The pair leaves UK after four glorious years. Witten earned four career All-America selections, two All-Southeastern Conference selections, one in singles and one in doubles, and it was just announced on Friday that she was selected to the Verizon Academic All-America team, the first such selection of her career. She also was named to the SEC Academic honor roll an impressive three consecutive years. She leaves Kentucky with a career doubles record of 115-47 and a career singles record of 99-63.
Trefethen earned her first All-America and All-SEC team selections this year and also was named to the SEC Academic honor roll for the third consecutive season. She finishes her career with a four-year doubles record of 76-32 and a singles record of 85-56.
“Both of these women, as well as the other seniors on the team, have been very special to me,” Guilbeau said. “Their hard work and dedication to UK women’s tennis are what have made it the program it is today.”
